Is Tom Exton the City's busiest worker?

What pushed you to found LDN Muscle?

As a four, (myself, twin brother James Exton and two friends, brother Max and Lloyd Bridger) we were becoming disenfranchised with the fitness industry as a whole, and found there was a real lack of realistic & achievable looking spokespeople – representing the large swathe of people that are busy at work/with families, and just want to improve their health and fitness without it taking over their lives or costing a bomb.

Could you briefly tell our readers how LDN Muscle works?

LDN Muscle, or LDNM as it’s known on the most part, is the UK’s leading provider of online training, fitness qualifications, supplements, & apparel. We’ve also had a number app and most recently our book launched last week, which flew into the Amazon Books Top 20 within the first day of its release. Our core business is our LDNM Guides – essentially 20 weeks of diet, training and everything you’ll need to follow to achieve either your fat loss, or your muscle gain goals. They’ve been used by over 100,000 people worldwide and have produced thousands of amazing results. We pride ourselves on customer support, which is available on Facebook and Twitter at all hours of the day, seven days a week. We are unrivalled in this respect.

What’s your role in the City?

I keep my day job as separate as possible from my ‘other life’ – but it’s nothing hugely glamourous. I tend to keep off LinkedIn and the like for this reason. The information is not exactly worthy of the official secrets act, but it does keep my life slightly easier!

Typically you work from 6:30am to 2am – what’s the secret?

Caffeine! No, but seriously, caffeine plays a vital role, but not as much as loving what you do. With LDNM it doesn’t feel like work - we all get an enormous buzz out of helping people achieve their goals and the ongoing success of the company is something I don’t think I’ll ever tire of. It has been a phenomenal few years and I cannot wait to see what 2017 holds.

Do you find it difficult to juggle your various commitments?

If I’m being honest – yes. A lot of the time my social life suffers, but I think I still manage to nail a fairly good balance. With phones these days, the office is anywhere you want it to be and I do 99% of what I need to on my phone/s. Much to the annoyance of others around me!

What advice would you give for any City worker keen to start their own business?

Be prepared to have your life totally changed, waking hours will become working hours, but ultimately, should your goal be to ‘escape’ the City, this is something you will need to get through. I have been so, so lucky that the guys I run and co-own LDNM with are exceptional at what they do and our skillsets/working hours all complement each other brilliantly. I think this is the real key behind why LDNM is where it is.

Could you share one fitness tip for time-pressed City workers?

Clean eating is not the secret to achieving your body composition goals.

Any plans to broaden your portfolio?

I have fingers in various small businesses now, those that follow my social media may be aware of what these are. There are some exciting new interests cropping up over the next few months, which I can’t say too much about now but I’m also looking to expand my property exploits, with my twin, this year.

Tom Exton is co-founder of LDN Muscle, the UK’s leading provider of downloadable training guides.